Wraps a short span of text in <code><nowiki><syntaxhighlight></nowiki></code> tags (see [[mw:Extension:SyntaxHighlight]]). This template should be used for short samples; longer content should use {{tag|pre}} or {{tag|syntaxhighlight}}. See [[Help:Wiki markup]] for an explanation of what the various tags do.
If the content includes an equals sign (=), you must specify the parameter explicitly: <code><nowiki>{{code|1=date=30 Feb 2010}}</nowiki></code>.
The template uses the <code><nowiki><syntaxhighlight></nowiki></code> tag with the attribute <code>inline=1</code>. This works like the combination of the <code><nowiki><code></nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki><nowiki></nowiki></code> tags, applied to the expanded wikitext. For example, <code><nowiki>{{code|some '''wiki''' text}}</nowiki></code> will '''''not''''' render the word "wiki" in bold, and will render the tripled-single-quotes:
:{{code|some '''wiki''' text}}
However, <code><nowiki>{{code|a {{template}} call}}</nowiki></code> will still invoke the template:
:{{code|a {{template}} call}}
Use {{tag|nowiki}} around the template name to avoid this problem:
:{{code|a <nowiki>{{template}}</nowiki> call}}
When used inline with regular text, {{tnull|code}} generally looks best and is easiest to read when it is explicitly spaced apart from the regular text:
because "foo" and "{{code|bar}}" will seem more closely associated than "{{code|bar}}" and "{{code|baz}}"; the width of the space character in a monospaced font is almost always larger than in a proportional font.
Use parameter {{{2}}} (unnamed, as {{para|2}}, or more explicitly as {{para|lang}}) to specify a language for [[mw:Extension:SyntaxHighlight GeSHi]]. This option defaults to plain-text, i.e. no highlighting. There is no highlighting option for wikitext as a markup language, though {{code|html4strict}} and {{code|html5}} are valid values, as are {{code|php}}, {{code|perl}}, {{code|css}}, {{code|javascript}}, {{code|mysql}} and many others. Attempting to use an invalid one causes a list of valid ones to be displayed in place of the template output, when the page is previewed or saved.
This template does not need to be [[Wikipedia:Template substitution|substituted]].
===Examples===
{{markup
|<nowiki>Lorem {{code|ipsum '''dolor'''}} sit amet</nowiki>
|Lorem {{code|ipsum '''dolor'''}} sit amet
|<nowiki>The declaration {{code |lang=cpp |int foo(const std::string& bar, const std::vector<long double*>& baz);}} is the prototype for a function defined later.</nowiki>
|The declaration {{code |lang=cpp |int foo(const std::string& bar, const std::vector<long double*>& baz);}} is the prototype for a function defined later.
|<nowiki>If the code contains an [[equals sign]], such as {{code |lang=javascript |code=var img = document.getElementsByTagName("img");}}, you must identify the first parameter explicitly as {{{1}}} or {{{code}}}; see also [[:bugzilla:5138]].</nowiki>
|If the code contains an [[equals sign]], such as {{code |lang=javascript |code=var img = document.getElementsByTagName("img");}}, you must identify the first parameter explicitly as {{{1}}} or {{{code}}}; see also [[:bugzilla:5138]].
}}
}}
===Included templates===
===Included templates===
Embedded templates do not function as expected inside {{tl|code}}; for longer, free-form blocks of code, which can contain templates such as {{tl|var}} and {{tl|samp}}, use {{tag|code}} as a wrapper instead of this template.
Embedded templates do not function as expected inside {{tl|code}}; for longer, free-form blocks of code, whichwrapper instead of this template.
Templates used inside {{tl|code}} expose the rendered HTML— this can be useful. For example:
Templates used inside {{tl|code}} expose the rendered HTML— this can be useful. For example:
To indicate text is a variable name. Use for any variable names except those including "I" (uppercase i) and/or "l" (lowercase L); for these, {{var serif}} should be used to ensure a noticeable distinction
To display parameters as used in code (i.e. with triple braces), especially to indicate relationships between them. May be combined with {{para}} above
To indicate text is source code. To nest other templates within {{code}}, use <code>...</code>. {{codett}} differs only in styling: someMethod becomes someMethod
(or {{dc}} ) To indicate deprecated source code in template documentation, articles on HTML specs, etc. The {{dc2}} variant uses strike-through (<blink>) while {{dcr}} uses red (<blink>).
